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Sept/October 2026
This CPPPH newsletter aims to keep readers abreast of current developments and relevant information about physician health and wellbeing in California.
All past issues are available from the CPPPH website:
www.CPPPH.org.
Definitions
Wellness activities address quality of life and professional satisfaction for all physicians.
Wellbeing activities focus on an individual physician and provide resources for identifying, evaluating, referring, treating and monitoring for physicians when addiction, mental health, behavioral issues and the effects of aging are a concern.
Confidential Assistance Over the Phone
The Physicians’ and Dentists’ Confidential Assistance Line is a 24-hour phone service providing completely confidential doctor-to-doctor assistance for physicians experiencing substance use or mental health issues. Call:
Send Us Your Comments
We want to hear from you. Send comments to gjara@cppph.org.
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Assessing Late Career Physicians
We have recently learned that a next step has been taken in the case Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Plaintiff v. Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH), Defendant, in US District Court, New Haven, Connecticut.
The existence of that lawsuit has put a stop to most medical staff/medical group efforts to carry out routine assessments of late career physicians. Since the case was filed in 2020, policies and procedures were put on hold awaiting a decision by the courts. This new step taken may change that.
Background
Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH) brought a case against EEOC over the YNHH Medical Staff Late Career Practitioner Policy (LCPP). The policy required a screening, including a neurocognitive screen, for members of its medical staff when they turned age 70. Some physicians who would have been screened under that policy challenged it saying that it violated the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). EEOC supported their position and ruled that the policy was a violation of those federal laws. In 2020, YNHH sued filing Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Plaintiff v. Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH), Defendant, in US District Court, New Haven, Connecticut.
With delays that lasted over several years, there was no action until now. But on August 27, 2026, there was oral argument at the US District Court in Bridgeport, Connecticut on Motions to Dismiss filed by both the EEOC and YNHH. The motions were heard by US District Judge Kari Dooley. Following the two hours of arguments, Judge Dooley did not issue a ruling from the bench. She advised that she was taking the motions under submission and would issue a written ruling at an unspecified time.
Policies and procedures for routine age-based assessments were the subject of CPPPH workshops based on CPPPH’s 2015 guideline, Assessing Late Career Practitioners: Policies and Procedures for Age-based Screening. CPPPH stopped holding workshops in 2020, waiting for a ruling on the YNHH v. EEOC suit. Now there might be a clarifying next step to report.
For more detail, click here to see a memo from Richard Barton, Esq., who consulted with YNHH and with organizations, like CPPPH, that filed Amicus Briefs.
Getting a Physician Health Program for California
Each issue of this newsletter reports on legislative efforts to give the Medical Board of California authorization to establish a physician health program (PHP) for California that follows nationally recognized best practices. A bill sponsored by the MBC (AB408) was introduced into the 2025-6 legislature but did not succeed. Now, the Board must decide whether to include the request for the authority to create a PHP as part of its 2027 Sunset Review process. That decision is expected at the November 19 meeting of the Board.
Watch for the Medical Board’s required Sunset report, due to the legislature by December 1. Then, in early 2027, watch for the opportunities to provide public testimony at the meetings of the legislature’s 2027 Joint Sunset Review Committee.
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